Equal Access Act vs Gay Straight Alliances

The federal Equal Access Act, which was co-sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, requires any public secondary school accepting federal funds to allow all school clubs equal access to its facilities. It was aimed at protecting student religious activities. [...]

Backed by the Utah Eagle Forum, state Sen. Chris Buttars plans legislation to ban high school gay-straight clubs.

“I’m concerned about gay clubs,” the West Jordan Republican said Wednesday, a day after opening a bill file for the legislation he said would ban the gay student associations from meeting on public school property. “In my mind, if you are in the chess club, what do you talk about? Chess,” Buttars said. “If you are in the dance club, what do you talk about? Dance. If you are in a gay club, what do you talk about?”

“I just don’t believe members of sexual-orientation clubs should be sanctioned by the public schools—what they are talking about even a part of the public schools. They should not be allowed to have that on school property at all. It’s just wrong,” he said.

Utah Eagle Forum President Gayle Ruzicka said Buttars’ bill would simply clarify existing law, which curtails what may be said in schools about sexuality. “We’re looking at the law saying, what do we need to do to help the districts? Most of the districts don’t want the clubs,” she said. “Provo certainly wouldn’t have a club if it didn’t have this fear (of lawsuits) hanging over its head ... (or) if it were up to parents.” (source)

Well, it’s kind of like the Solomon Act. That act prevents colleges and universities from preventing military recruiters on their campuses in protest of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy on homosexuals. To prevent the recruiters full access to students, the university in question could lose all of it’s federal funds. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently weighing if the Solomon Act is constitutional.

In the case of gay-straight alliance clubs at high schools, I would think the same principle would apply. From a constitutional point of view, can you restrict one club with a very specific subject matter (i.e. gay topics, tolerance, etc.) from another club that would talk about chess?

Ironically, it was Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who sponsored the federal Equal Access Act, which “requires any public secondary school accepting federal funds to allow all school clubs equal access to its facilities. It was aimed at protecting student religious activities.”

With the way things are working in Washington, I suppose they will now try to amend the Equal Access Act to “allow all school clubs equal access to its facilities, with the exclusion of any homosexual group or any group espousing anything identical or similar to any group espousing homosexual leanings.”

[Utah Senator] Buttars said he is not afraid of a lawsuit. “I know the school districts and some others are scared of the ACLU. Not me,” he said.

Then a lawsuit you will have because the ACLU will have no problems what so ever in bringing one to you. And, unless the Equal Protection Act is amended, you should expect to lose.

But if it went to the U.S. Supreme Court, would you lose? Good question. I expected the U.S. Supreme Court to rule against the Solomon Act because it restricts the university from following through with it’s beliefs from fear of losing all it’s federal funding (First Amendment issues).

Instead, Chief Justice Roberts made the assertion that there was no constitutional conflict and simply suggested that the school could simply opt to refuse federal funds if the schools were really true to their convictions (story).

In the case of gay-straight alliances, the Supreme Court could make a similar argument that the school is free to forego it’s federal funding if it wants to go ahead and exclude gay groups from meeting on school grounds.

Of course, I think the Supreme Court would have a hard time swallowing that one. And of course, I’m not suggesting in any way, shape, or form, that hypocrisy has anything to do with this.